First Name, Last Name
by Daniel Ocean
Summary: How will the Gundams be seen in AC 5000?


WARNING: I do not own the Gundam boys, which is worth mentioning since they occasionally pop up. It is sort of a GW fanfic, but not really, as most of the characters, like D-56, are my own. But I don't own Duo Maxwell, and I am jealous of the (probably very rich) dude who does.  
  
first name last name Daniel Ocean  
  
He had been known as L2-D-5643 for all of his life. It was a very practical name-back in the very old times, two people could have more than one name and it could cause confusion. But there were no mix-ups in AC 5416, like there had been in the more primitive times of humans. Everything was prefect and organized. Newborns simply bore numbers. Still, having things organized could such emotion out of something, and that was the case of the children. People could rightfully cringed when a child was called home for supper, and instead of a word, a harsh- sounding number had to be used. But that was not the situation that would be with D-56-as his friends called him-much longer. He was almost fifteen. He could select any sort of name at all, as long that no one else on L-2 had it. There were so many permutations, this was unlikely. First names were abundant, around a thousand for each gender, more even. And there were even more than that last names-the real mark of uniqueness. Many on one colony were expected to have he same first name-with so many people it could not be avoided-but with the two names together, no one on L-2 could be confused. There were never ten John Smiths on one colony at once. Having a name was the important part. No one cared that the name still meant less than it had earlier. It was not to be a perfect match of the past, but enough to comfort people. A week before, he was given two lengthy books from his parents. "Here, son," his father said. "This is all you need for picking the perfect name for yourself. One shows how to pick it and the other is a list of male and family names. Or a different way of naming yourself. It is your choice, so choose well." "All right."  
  
Soon he discovered that it was not a good idea to put it off. The lists were staggering, and everything as put into categories. Heroes of the past, which many took their names from. Religious names, also popular. Names from later times, which did not have a lot of consideration but had some good ones nevertheless. It was just as bad for the family names, sorted by origin from the old Earth. Ever since the boundaries of the world were redrawn they were sort of nebulous, but still, no one would consider chaos. Still, he found Fortin to be fine and decided to get back to the first names and comb through them slowly. He found a list that simply had them listed top to bottom, from A to Z, and started from scratch at Aaron. It took hours, but D-56 was determined to get to the right name. He would have to live with it for two hundred years, so it made no sense to pick badly. His eyes began to blur around Duncan and Durwin, which may have lead to his unexpected discovery. The paper was old and there were plenty of scars in it, but somehow a few creases stood out from the rest. "Hey," said D-56. "Something was taken out." He looked at the book at a second hour, and then remembered something about paper made from wood. He held it up to his bedroom light, and a tiny bit of the fluorescence went through. "Huh." Then, "I like that one."  
  
He made his way to the naming station, about to made one of the most important decisions he would ever have to make. The government took it upon itself to take care of some matters, but letting the people do this was somehow better-a good thing from the past. And since people picked their own, they got what they wanted more often. He was ushered into a smallish office, and there was a Namer, really a special kind of lawyer with great seniority. He looked to have had at least a hundred years behind him in law. "Ah, are you D-5643?" "Yes." "Good. Now son-do you understand the chance of picking badly and having o live with it?" "I do." "Do you have doubt about your decision?" "I feel pretty confident about what I got." "Good! Then I would like to hear your last name." "Fortin." "All right." The Namer filled this in on a bubble seat, and slowly filled in the bubbles for the computer. After a minute he said, "Very well, what is the first name you have selected?" "Duo." "Pardon?" "Duo. D-U-O." "I am sorry, but that name is not available." "I saw it in a book." "Impossible-no one has had that name for thousands of years." "Why?" D-56 was confused. Was it retired by a great feat by an earlier Duo? More so than the ancients Relena and Quatre, whose names hung from hundreds in each colony? "It is a rather touchy subject. But he was responsible for war, and that is not tolerated." "He started fighting?" "Yes, terrible fighting. It carries a horrible stigma, son. He was a soldier, and while he was not the great one in that war, the worst warlord, he was a character." "When?" "The last war, four, five thousand years ago or so." "Ah." "He stopped it of course as well, which was fine, but there was still blood spilt." The Namer rattled his pencil. "It was not as if he would die or watch his friends or home be crushed if he did not." He got up. "And what sort of world is it if anyone could say anything they wanted? Now, please, I would like to hear your second selection." 


End file.
